FAO.org

European Match Day against Hunger

16 European football leagues will join forces to fight hunger

Match Day against Hunger is bringing together 314 professional football clubs in matches at 157 stadiums across Europe.

20 October 2010, Rome – 16 European football leagues will dedicate their matches to the fight against hunger and poverty as an impressive show of footballing solidarity during the “European Match Day against Hunger” (22-24 October) promoted by FAO and the European Professional Football Leagues Association (EPFL).

The leagues are urging their fans to sign an online petition calling on governments to give priority to the elimination of hunger.

"The 1billionhungry project” is a global outreach initiative of FAO and its partners. Since its launch in May, the petition has attracted more than 1.6 million signatures. "This shows that people around the globe are deeply troubled by the fate of the world’s hungry,” said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf. "They are urging governments to take more forceful action against hunger and extreme poverty.”

"Proud" was how Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros, CEO of the EPFL, qualified the feeling shared by the Leagues by organizing, for the second year, this Match Day against Hunger. "The EPFL is with FAO, at the forefront of the fight for the most basic human right: the right to food. This is the moral duty of our generation,” he said.

Football can play a powerful role in keeping hunger high on the global agenda, said Frank Rutten, CEO of the Dutch Eredivisie. "Despite the fact that around one billion people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger, the problem often seems to be forgotten. The Eredivisie supports the European Match Day Against Hunger by working closely together with our European colleagues and using the universal power of football to raise awareness and progress in tackling the problem."

The EPFL/FAO “Match Day against Hunger” will bring together 16 professional football leagues and involve 314 professional football clubs playing in 157 stadiums across Europe. Millions of fans will see players, coaches and referees blow the yellow whistle, the campaign’s symbol signifying that it is time to stop the widespread suffering caused by chronic hunger. The yellow whistle, and with it the call to action against hunger, will be heard from Lisbon to Novosibirsk in Siberia to Glasgow to Palermo.

"We take a unified approach on the fight against hunger," said Tom Bender, Chairman of the Bundesliga Foundation. "Football has a high social responsibility which we take very seriously. This weekend, all major European leagues within the EPFL will utilize their collective media presence to push forward the battle against hunger."

The individual leagues and clubs will stage various forms of public awareness events in connection with the "Match Day against Hunger."

In Spain, the players, including Uruguayan World Cup Golden Ball winner Diego Forlan, Spanish World Champion Iker Casillas and Argentine striker Lionel Messi will enter the stadiums wearing T-shirts bearing the symbol of the campaign and blowing yellow whistles.

In Italy, all team captains and referees will wear the yellow whistle. In Russia all players will enter the playing field wearing campaign T-shirts and yellow whistles.

At matches played in the Netherlands as well as at the Bayern Muenchen vs Hamburg game in Germany, a ball will be signed by all players and at matches throughout Germany and the referee will use the yellow whistle to referee the game.

Some football players have visited countries affected by hunger. "I visited FAO projects in Africa," said FAO Goodwill Ambassador and Schalke 04 and former Real Madrid striker, Raúl González. "I saw that concrete solutions do exist to solve the hunger problem. It’s unacceptable that every 6 second a child dies". This sentiment was echoed by Hansi Mueller the ambassador of the Bundesliga. "During the EPFL field visit to an FAO community project in Egypt, I myself saw the dire conditions of hundreds of kids suffering from hunger. Football has the power to mobilize and sensitize public opinion. It's our moral duty, as public personalities, to give back something to society, supporting social causes like this."

Austrian league ambassador Herbert Prohaska said: "The main purpose of the Match Day against hunger is to show that all of us can fight against hunger and poverty. Because everywhere in the world people are playing football this is a perfect stage for this message".

In a statement issued for the match day, the EPFL said that the fight against hunger is a "moral duty of our generation" and "the challenge of our civilization."

"Match day against hunger is being organized so that in every stadium, across the whole of Europe, all EPFL Member Leagues, clubs, players and football fans can deliver a common message. It is a message that uses the power of football and calls upon all nations, all leaders and all people of goodwill to unite efforts, to mobilise resources and to help us win this cause for the most basic and fundamental human right: the right of food and human dignity”. The statement urges people to sign the 1billionhungry campaign

Extra quotes:

Patrick Comninos, Super League Greece Executive Director: “Football has the power to increase awareness in helping address hunger as a global issue; over one billion people all over the world are affected and face the threat of undernourishment. We, at Super League Greece, unite our voices with those who have already signed the petition in support of the project at www.1billionhungry.org and urge all fans in Greece to show their support and solidarity”.

Jerzy Dudek, Real Madrid football player and campaign testimonial for Poland: “If we, the football players, are able to support such a noble initiative in any way, then our participation constitutes our primary obligation. I also believe in Your support and engagement. The European Football society is united together towards one mutual goal – combating hunger and imposing a social pressure upon those in power – this is the goal that we aim to achieve”.

Hristo Stoichkov of the Bulgarian League: “We must do everything in order to guarantee for all children around the world the love and food they need. That is their sacred right”.